In the following specification, the term ‘rigid wrapper’ can be taken to mean both a carton containing a plurality of packets of cigarettes, and a single packet containing a group of cigarettes or tobacco products in general.
Generally considered, rigid wrappers of the type in question with a hinged lid are box-like wrappers of rectangular parallelepiped shape designed, in the case of a carton, to accommodate several packets of cigarettes assembled into a group, and in the case of the single packet, to accommodate an ordered group of cigarettes enveloped by an inner wrapper normally of metal foil paper.
The rigid wrapper comprises a container of cupped embodiment surmounted by a similarly cupped lid hingedly attached to a rear edge of the container and rotatable thus between positions in which the container is open and shut, respectively. Such a wrapper will normally present a top face, a bottom face, a rear face appearing as a continuous panel divided into two parts by a transverse hinge crease along which the lid is connected to the container, also a front face composed of two distinct portions coinciding respectively with the front of the container and the front of the lid, and two flank faces each composed of two distinct portions coinciding respectively with a flank of the container and a flank of the lid.
The container and the lid are fashioned typically by bending a single flat diecut blank of paperboard or similar material to the requisite shape.
Rigid wrappers of the type thus outlined are provided usually with a reinforcing frame also of paperboard or similar material, part of which is positioned internally of the container and disposed in contact with the relative inside faces of the front and flanks. The portion of the frame that projects from the container functions essentially as a supporting and restraining element for the lid when in the closed position.
Rigid wrappers of this type are manufactured conventionally by associating the groups of cigarettes, enveloped in their inner wrappers, with respective frames cut separately from a continuous strip of paperboard material other than the blank used to fashion the rigid wrapper, or alternatively by utilizing blanks with the frame incorporated.
In the latter instance, in particular, the prior art embraces the use of a flat diecut blank presenting a central panel that corresponds to the front of the rigid wrapper fashioned from the blank, and a frame associated with one end of this same panel by way of an intermediate panel, or alternatively, the frame can be attached at two points to the ends of two lateral panels corresponding to the flank faces of the rigid wrapper. A frame of this type is folded double during the process of erecting the wrapper, and fixed to the inside face of the central panel.
In the event that the frame is cut from a separate strip of paperboard as aforementioned and then united with the group of cigarettes, the packer machine must necessarily be equipped with two wrapping lines, one for the wrappers and one for the frames, synchronized in operation one with the other. In the examples mentioned previously, where the frame is incorporated as an integral part of the wrapper blank, the blank will tend to be somewhat complex and costly in terms of the quantity of wrapping material consumed, and moreover the packer machine must be equipped with a dedicated unit for folding the frame double against the central panel of the blank.
The object of the present invention is to provide a rigid wrapper with a hinged lid suitable for cartons and for packets of cigarettes, such as will be unaffected by the drawbacks described above.